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"I'm so tired of hiding it from everyone. And I don't think that Arthit should be left out on this. It's time for him to know your secret."

Everyone was dead silent and waiting anxiously for Nam to reveal the secret he was threatening Kongpob with. But she was being quiet now, still contemplating on how to say it. A full minute had passed and Nam still hadn't said anything. Some girl from the crowd watching grew impatient and yelled at her. "Yah, hurry up and say what you have to say."

Hearing this, Nam turned to the person with glaring eyes. I thought that the person was going to have it then, but surprisingly, Nam didn't shout at her at all. Instead, she turned away from her and began to speak, looking at Kongpob. "Everyone's been wondering why Kongpob and I broke up. And everyone's right in assuming that there's a third party involved in this. The only question is, who is it?" she said slowly, turning to Kongpob with daring eyes. "It's—"

But Nam's revelation was cut off by Joss' sudden words. "It's me. I'm the third party." He said, stepping forward and causing every eye to turn to him. "That's right, I'm the one who caused their breakup."

As Joss spoke, everyone was letting out 'ooh's and 'aah's at his revelation. I even heard someone behind me say, "So the rumor that Kongpob's gay is true?"

I couldn't stop myself from laughing at that. Wow, what a twist this was huh? But of course, the shock of Joss' confession was short-lived because the intensity of the situation still hadn't disappeared.

Joss must've heard the "gay" statement though, because he reacted to it hurriedly. "No, no! What I meant is, I like Nam... and I wanted to get close to her, so I told Kongpob to make a move on her."

That...didn't make any sense. Kongpob has no problem getting any girl or guy he wants.

"Then why Kongpob? You could've just made a move by yourself." Someone from the crowd retorted.

"Because I knew that she liked Kongpob...if I made a move myself, I knew that she would reject me. So I persuaded Kongpob to go out with her. At least that way, I could be near her, since I usually tagged along with Kongpob." He confessed, his tone dead serious that even I was convinced. For a second. "But after a while of seeing them together, I felt more and more jealous. I was afraid I might lose her completely if Kongpob continued to be her boyfriend so I asked him to break up with her."

Somehow, what Joss said made a lot of sense. However, as I tried to read Nam's reaction, I had a feeling that what she was about to reveal was very different from what Joss had just said. Surprise was completely written on her face, and she turned to Kongpob wide-eyed, waiting for him to either confirm or deny this elaborate story.

However, Kongpob was just staring at Nam expressionless, before he raised his eyes and looked at me. The somewhat rattled look in his intense dark eyes surprised me and I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

I was now 100% sure Joss was lying to help Kongpob hide his secret.

Unfortunately, we didn't receive any confirmation or denial from Kongpob, because a teacher arrived at the scene, probably thinking there was a fight going on because of the crowd gathered around them. "Why is everyone gathered here when you should be having lunch? Go and have your lunch."

The students murmured a little, before getting out of the cafeteria as soon as possible, not wanting to be in trouble. And the teacher, seeing how everyone left without hesitation, walked away satisfied with herself. Daniel grabbed my hand and led me out of there, leaving Nam alone with Kongpob and Joss. May, on the other hand, walked away with Michael.

For a moment there, I wanted to ask Daniel if we could go back, because I still wanted more answers and frankly I was worried to leave the three alone there. But then again, they needed some privacy to talk between themselves, so I followed Daniel silently as we entered the cafeteria. There, I saw May and Michael talking to each other and the interesting was, May looked quite happy to be with Michael.

Maybe there really is a chance for them...

"So, how do you feel about Kongpob now?" Daniel asked me as we took our seats at a deserted lunch table.

I looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?" I didn't see how the reasoning behind Nam's breakup would change Kongpob's image in my mind. He was still a brat and insensitive to me.

"Didn't you hear what Joss said? He convinced Kongpob to be with Nam as her fake-boyfriend or something. That means Kongpob didn't just play with Nam's feelings. He was doing a favor for his friend." Daniel pointed out, looking at me carefully.

I placed the box of cake on the table and took it out. "Well, he shouldn't have agreed to what Joss asked him. I mean, wouldn't you consider going out with someone you don't like as playing with someone's heart? He could've just helped his friend in a different way, like helping him court Nam or something." I ranted angrily.

Then I remembered how he broke up with Nam, which was one of the things that really triggered my anger towards him. "And how insensitive could he be to tell Nam he was tired of playing with her? He could've just come up with another reason, lied. Then Nam wouldn't have felt so bad about it."

"Why do you hate him so much?" Daniel asked me suddenly as I dug into the cake he gave me.

There were countless answers for that question. But I didn't feel like explaining them all. "I just do," I simply answered, gesturing him to eat the cake with me. "Anyway, can we please stop talking about him, because if you hadn't realized, about 70% of our past conversations are always about Kongpob."

He laughed at that. "You're right." he agreed, grabbing a fork of his own and taking a bite of the cake. "Okay then, let's stop talking about him. At least I'm not the one you hate. That's all that matters to me."

"Oh yeah? How sure are you that you're not in my hate list?" I asked him teasingly.

"I'm sure I'm not, because this cake is delicious. You can't possibly start hating me after eating a cake as good as this," he replied with a playful smile.

I laughed at his remark. Somehow, I really enjoyed being with Daniel. In fact, I think I was starting to like him...

After lunch, I sat with Daniel through the classes and once they were over, he even walked me to my locker. However, when we got there, Nam was standing there, looking as if she was waiting for me. I said goodbye to Daniel and approached her.

"I need to talk to you." She spoke as soon as I reached her.

"Go on then." I answered, crossing my arms. I was expecting her to apologize for what she did to me.

She frowned at me. "Not here. Can we go somewhere else?" she asked, looking around rather nervously.

I figured that she was embarrassed to say sorry in front of many people so I gave her a break and agreed. "Sure." I responded, following her after putting my books in my locker.

We left the school and were now walking down the street and she finally began speaking, "If you think I'm about to say sorry, I'm not." She started, then continued. "At least not for betraying you, because I didn't do anything that can be called betrayal."

"If that's not betrayal then what do you call it?" I exclaimed angrily at her. "You know what? I just figured it all out. When I told you about the rumor I spread, you went to the bathroom and guess what happened next? A rumor about me spread even faster! And what about the cell phone number I posted on the wall? You're the only one I told about the plan to, and yet, my plan backfired! And when I planned something with Michael, when I didn't tell you anything about it, that's the only time my plan actually worked!"

She shook her head at me. "Those were mere coincidences. You want to know why I talked to Jessica? It was to protect you!" She exclaimed angrily at the same intensity as I did.

"...To protect me?" I asked with a mocking laughter. "Are you serious? How was befriending your worst enemy and replacing your best friend with her a form of protection?!"

Nam shook her head once again. "I can't believe this!" she remarked before she started defending herself again. "Jessica was the one responsible for all your plans backfiring! She wanted to ruin you, not just save Kongpob's reputation from your schemes. That's why I talked to her, to warn her that she should stop doing it."

Unbelievable.

"Can't you think of a better lie?" I shot at her. "Why would Jessica want to ruin me? She hates you, not me. You were the one who stole her obsession away from her and started dating Kongpob, not me."

Nam took a deep breath and looked at me. "She doesn't hate me anymore. In fact, she wants me on her side so she can easily ruin you." She explained.

"No wonder you willingly rushed to her side. She invited you in. I bet you've been waiting for a long time to be invited into the 'great' Kongpob's fan club." I said angrily, almost ready to walk away from her.

"I only did what I did today because you were pushing me to do it. You kept insisting that I betrayed you so I felt angry. I just wanted you to taste your own medicine." She responded in her sincere tone. "I swear I never betrayed you, Arthit...if I ever did something wrong to you, it would be that I kept something from you that you deserved to know."

She seemed very sincere with her words, so I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Okay...What did you hide from me then?" I asked in a softer tone.

"The reason why Jessica's trying to ruin you is because she's extremely jealous of you, Arthit."

I scoffed at that. "Pfft. Why would she—"

"Because...Kongpob likes you."

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